The further to note that 100 Smart Cities have reported that so far, 5343 projects worth Rs.1,00,450 crore could be completed. However, the City-wise physical progress of projects taken up under the Smart City Mission shows that there is a contrasting difference in the performance of various Cities.

Chandigarh (ABC Live): The National Smart Cities Mission is an urban program Lunched by the Government of India in year 2018 with the mission to develop smart cities across the country, making them citizen friendly and sustainable.

It is a five-year program in which all of the Indian states and Union territories participated by nominating at least one city for the Smart Cities challenge.

There are now a total of 100 cities which have been selected through 5 rounds of selection process to the Smart Cities Mission.

As regards to financial allocation of Rs.48,000 crore under for the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) has been allotted out of which  Rs.36,561 crore has been released and Rs 33,012 crore (90% of total released) have been utilized by the Smart Cities. 

According to the official website of Smart Cities Mission a city shall be term as Smart City that works for people.

What do we mean by cities that work for their people?

To answer the question ‘what is a smart city’ is a city, which is liveable, sustainable and has a thriving economy offering multiple opportunities to its people to pursue their diverse interests.

 The Housing and Urban Affairs Committee of Parliament submitted its 18th report on March 23, 2023 in Lok Sabha which says as under;

“The further to note that 100 Smart Cities have  reported that so far, 5343 projects worth Rs.1,00,450 crore could be completed. However, the City-wise physical progress of projects taken up under the Smart City Mission shows that there is a contrasting difference in the performance of various Cities.

On the one hand, 32 Smart Cities have completed more than the number of Projects planned for implementation under SCM in some cases even four times more than the actual target. 

On the other hand, remaining 68 Smart Cities are yet to meet the project completion targets wherein the performance of some cities is quite dismal. 

Therefore, the total number of completed Projects gives a misleading picture because it also takes into account the excess projects accomplished by 32 performing Smart Cities. 

The Committee are of the opinion that if the number of ‘excess projects’ is removed from the total completed projects then the actual number of projects completed under the Mission would be far less than projected as on 31.01.2023. 

The fact remains that as on 31.01.2023, 68 Smart Cities have not achieved their physical targets under the Mission. 

The Mission period has been extended till June, 2023 to complete these projects and the Ministry has submitted before the Committee that all the Smart Cities are expected to complete their projects within the stipulated time.”